1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a training golf club, and more particularly, to a training golf club for practicing golf, and as a tool for correcting a golfer's swing.
2. Description of Related Art
Golf has gradually become a popular social activity in modern society. Yet a beginner has to practice very hard to strike a golf ball accurately. A regular and correct swing is an important factor for playing golf well.
A good golf swing not only controls the ball's direction, but also makes the ball go further. To control the ball's direction, the golfer must swing the club-head with a perfect motion. As long as the ball is positioned at the lowest point of the full-swing motion, the ball will fly towards the target. To hit the ball further, the golfer needs a perfect release. If a golfer concentrates the strength of his whole body on the ball, and strikes the ball well, they can accurately hit the ball a long way.
An average golfer often thinks that it is too difficult to learn the perfect golf swing. Because the swing path cannot be seen, it is difficult for a golfer to position the club-head along the correct swing-path all the time. As a result, the golfer tries to force the club-head, which leads to weaker shots that may curve off to one side or the other. Some golfers spend a lot of time hitting thousands of golf balls practicing their swing, yet they still cannot achieve a desirable swing.
In order to keep the club-head along the correct path, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,421,579 and 6,322,456 B1 disclose a fixed path guiding apparatus for golfers. A golf club is slidably engaged with the path guiding apparatus, and the swing of the golfer is guided along a particular path with the assistance of the apparatus. However, the above path-guiding apparatus can only keep the golf club on a fixed path. It is unable to keep the face of the club-head on the correct angle. In addition, the path guiding apparatus is too large and heavy to be portable, so it cannot be used in different places.
The three key stages that lead up to a desirable swing are “setup”, “swing plane” and “release”. A beginner golfer, however, has difficulty working all the three key points together when they make the fast movements involved in swinging a golf club, because they cannot see the path of their swing.
Even when a coach teaches a golfer, the most important thing for the golfer is to practice continuously over and over again. However, all of the golf clubs invented so far lack a structure for helping a golfer practice by themselves and don't make up for the absence of a coach. After a coach teaches a golfer, it is not easy for a beginner to know if his swing is correct when they practice by themselves. As a result, beginners cannot correct themselves and continue to practice using an incorrect setup. Even when recording themselves on video, beginners are usually unable to correct their own errors.
Therefore, a golf club that can help a golfer to improve their “setup”, “swing plane” and “release” when practicing will meet the demands of the many golfers worldwide who wish to improve their game.